Nats hold off Mets 3-2 for 10th straight at Citi

NEW YORK (AP) — Despite three untimely errors, the Washington Nationals found a way to win at Citi Field. They always do.

Asdrubal Cabrera hit his first home run for Washington and tumbled over a retaining wall to make a terrific catch, leading the Nationals past the New York Mets 3-2 Wednesday night for their 10th straight victory in Queens.

“We’re going to have games like this every once in a while. The fact that we were able to overcome it is key,” manager Matt Williams said. “We were fortunate tonight.”

Rafael Soriano held on in the ninth following Travis d’Arnaud’s leadoff homer, getting the final two outs after the Mets put a pair of runners in scoring position.

Matt den Dekker was thrown out at home on pinch-hitter Eric Campbell’s grounder to shortstop — and the call was upheld after a replay review to determine whether catcher Wilson Ramos blocked the plate illegally. Curtis Granderson hit a comebacker on the next pitch, giving Soriano his 27th save in 31 tries.

“We’ve got the best bullpen in the game,” starter Jordan Zimmermann said.

Bryce Harper and Kevin Frandsen each hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh to make a winner of Zimmermann (8-5), who did not permit an earned run or a walk in 6 1-3 innings.

Drew Storen pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom half, and the NL East leaders won for the 24th time in their last 28 road games against the Mets dating to Sept. 12, 2011. They haven’t lost in Queens since June 29 last year.

“Come out of here kind of feeling like you stole one,” Adam LaRoche said. “Luckily our pitchers in a few innings made some big pitches when we needed them. Kind of bailed our defense out, which has been pretty solid.”

Washington has outscored the Mets 70-20 during the winning streak at Citi Field, which ties a franchise record for the longest at one venue away from home. The Montreal Expos won 10 road games in a row against the Chicago Cubs from 1982-83.

“This is a tough one because they gave us a chance to beat them tonight,” New York manager Terry Collins said.

Coming off his 200th career win last Friday, Mets starter Bartolo Colon (11-10) allowed two runs — one earned — in seven innings.

Leading 1-0, Colon gave up a leadoff double in the seventh to LaRoche. LaRoche stopped at third on a single to center by Ian Desmond, who advanced to second when Juan Lagares’ high throw ticked off the glove of cutoff man Lucas Duda for an error.

That ended up hurting the Mets. Harper tied it with a sacrifice fly, Ramos singled and Frandsen put the Nationals ahead with another sacrifice fly.

“One bad pitch and they took advantage,” Colon said through a translator.

Cabrera connected in the eighth off Jeurys Familia. The two-time All-Star hit nine home runs for Cleveland this season before he was dealt to Washington at the July 31 trade deadline.

In the bottom half, Cabrera bolted from his spot at second base and made a running catch of Granderson’s foul pop just before hitting a retaining wall and going head over heels.

Frandsen handed New York its first run when he dropped d’Arnaud’s fourth-inning fly in front of the left-field warning track.

“It’s not being lazy or anything — just dropped it. That stuff happens,” Frandsen said. “Especially after screwing up and making a huge mistake, you’ve got to redeem yourself.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Nationals: RF Jayson Werth sat out again and will remain sidelined for at least a couple of days after receiving a cortisone injection for his sore right shoulder. Williams said Werth has a sprained AC joint, but an MRI showed no structural damage.

Looking for a three-game sweep, Washington sends Stephen Strasburg (8-10, 3.68 ERA) to the mound Thursday night against Dillon Gee (4-4, 3.54), who is 7-3 with a 3.23 ERA in 13 career starts against the Nationals.

DIFFERENT STORY

Michael Taylor, who homered in his major league debut Tuesday, went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts for the Nationals. Taylor started in center field and batted leadoff, his regular spot in the lineup at Double-A this season. Center fielder Denard Span was rested before entering on defense in the eighth.

BUSY MAN

Mets star David Wright extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a first-inning single. But the crowd groaned as he tried to stretch it to a double and was thrown out easily by Frandsen, who also made a sliding grab on Wright’s drive in the sixth.

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